Celebrity Health & Fitness

Taylor Swift: Workout to Stay Fit, Not Skinny (photos, video)

After the year that country star Taylor Swift had, winning multiple honors at the Country Music Awards, the MTV Video Awards and the American Music Awards, she deserves time off.

Swift looked fit and relaxed walking on the beach in the Bahamas June 19.

The 20-year-old wore a high-waisted polka dot bikini along with oversized sunglasses as she walked barefoot on the sand.

The lanky 5’10” Taylor stays fit by running outdoors, or on the treadmill.

“If I’m indulging too much and not exercising enough, I can feel that,” Swift said in a recent Allure magazine interview. “I can feel a change before I see it.”

The super-skinny Taylor insists she works out to maintain her stamina–not to stay thin.

“For me, working out is not so I can get skinny,” she says. “It’s so that I can keep up my endurance so I’m not panting on stage.

“Heavy breathing is the worst when you’re in concert. You don’t want to see that if you’re going to see a show,” she says.

Swift, who has managed to maintain a scandal-free image, often draws on her own life experiences when writing songs.

“I’m the kind of person who needs all her time to be worth the energy,” says Taylor.

“Let’s say I date a guy who really does nothing but damage me. And you’ve spent time, you’ve spent effort and you’ve put everything into trying to make that work, and it didn’t.

“So you write a song about it. It was worth everything, if you write a song about it,” she said.

Earlier in the year, Swift frolicked in the water with friends, went jet-skiing and was doused by a waterfall, according what appears to be a home video. Taylor led her intrepid friends up to the waterfall and then went swimming in her bikini.

Swift emerged as one of the struggling music industry’s biggest stars this year which must be a little bittersweet for the singer/songwriter.

She was snubbed several times by the big labels and finally struck gold on her own with a tiny independent shop.